I edit the content for this site on one of three different computers,
depending on where I am when the fancy strikes me. In order to do
this with the least possible strain on my brain cells, I've basically
set up all three computers identically, and I use the same
least-common-denominator processes from each. Same top-level "lab"
directory on the C: drive, same command-line xt tool on each. Same
command-line ftp -- I've got WS_FTP, but I keep forgetting to use it.
Same horrible mishmash of editing tools: there's something somehow
horribly wrong about using the same program to edit Lab entries and
write C++ code. The last time that happened, it was freshman year,
and Chase was writing all the code for his CS classes in pico.

There's something about the professional programming life that pulls
you towards the really crude tools. That may be why I use my code
editor for doing site updates, in fact: because it's such an
uncomplicated blunt instrument. Sure, it hooks into this crazy-ass
development environment and compiler, but, at root, it's a really
direct typing program, one that doesn't do much to get between me
and the words. In programming, this is nice because so much goes
wrong with your code and the development process that you really want
to be able to put rock-solid in your infrastructure, just because
even the merest doubt that, say, your editor hadn't actually committed
your changes to disk or was incorrectly showing your code -- you'd
go insane with fear. And while I don't need that level of paranoia
in scraping together my thoughts for the Lab, it's useful to use software
designed with the developer in mind. Being one, I'm willing to ignore
the rather unfriendly user interface; but beyond that, the tool does
a great job of getting out of my way and of not throwing any additional
headaches into my writing process. It does make proofing something of
a chore (which fact, over and above my raw laziness,
is partly why my stuff here is so poorly proofed), but it more than makes up
for this deficiency by giving me that nice warm feeling of doing something
arcane and technically erudite, even though the reality is so totally
not.